Publications

25 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker

Bundles, one of Walker's descendants who authored the biography On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, told MBA students at Harvard that her great-great-grandmother wanted to help women look and feel better.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Beauty & Cosmetics

30 Jun 2021
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2021

What’s on HBS faculty members’ reading list for summer 2021? Which books are most meaningful to them and why? Below, faculty share their top picks, ranging from biographies and memoirs to their colleagues’ latest works. Julia Austin:... View Details

Keywords: by Kathryn Haviland

20 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Gaps in the Historical Record: Development of the Electronics Industry

Margaret Graham's RCA and the Radio Disc, a biography of David Sarnoff by an RCA executive, and a journalistic account of Sony's expansion. Precisely because of the tiny number of players involved, their story provides a real-life... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Consumer Products

December 1974 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Andrew Carnegie

Concerns the life and wealth of Andrew Carnegie. View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Personal Development and Career; Biography

May 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Brief Biographical Note on P. Roy Vagelos

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Provides background biographical information on P. Roy Vagelos, chief executive officer of Merck Pharmaceuticals. Teaching Purpose: To chart the development of a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. View Details

Keywords: Biography; Teaching; Leadership Development; Mission and Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry

2009
Book

Let Me Explain: Eugene G. Fubini's Life in Defense of America

By: David G. Fubini

There is no necessary relationship between fame and power, and great influence is often wielded in willful obscurity. So it was with the irascible, indomitable Eugene Fubini. A physics prodigy who fled Italy when the fascists came to power, his searing intelligence and... View Details

Keywords: Biography; Personal Development and Career; National Security; United States

2017
Chapter

Paul R. Lawrence: A Career of Rigor, Relevance, and Passion

By: Michael Tushman

Paul R. Lawrence was one of the earliest and most influential figures in the emergence of organizational behavior as a field of study. He was a pioneer in creating a body of work on organization design, leadership, and change in both the private and public sectors.... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Contingency Theory; Public And Private Organizations; Rigor And Relevance; Biography; Organizational Design; Leadership; Learning; Leading Change

May 2018
Article

Linda Babcock: Go-getter and Do-gooder

By: Max Bazerman, Iris Bohnet, Hannah Riley-Bowles and George Loewenstein

In this tribute to the 2007 recipient of the Jeffrey Z. Rubin Theory‐To‐Practice Award from the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM), we celebrate Linda Babcock's contributions to diverse lines of research, her tireless and effective efforts to put... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Biography; Research; Negotiation; Leadership; Practice

26 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Clayton M. Christensen, Acclaimed Author and Teacher, Dies At 67

best selves that permeated every aspect of his life. His loss will be felt deeply by many in our community and his legacy will be long-lasting.” See complete biography on the Harvard Business School website here. View Details

Article

Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850

By: Tom Nicholas

Research into culture and entrepreneurship in Britain has been dominated by casual empiricism. This article shows the benefits of using a new method. Lifetime wealth accumulation is specified as a measure of entrepreneurial performance, and applied to data collected... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Performance Evaluation; Biography; Culture; Education; Wealth; Research; Great Britain

Read Now

June 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Howard Schultz: Building Starbucks Community

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2006, Howard Schultz reflects on his leadership at Starbucks in light of its continued growth plans. Provides information on the leadership development of the protagonist, tracing his youth and education, his early business career, his acquisition of Starbucks, and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Biography; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Personal Development and Career

August 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Young Minister Confronts the Challenges of Montgomery

By: William W. George, Rick Buhrman and Andrew N. McLean

As the Montgomery Bus Boycott starts, the young Martin Luther King Jr. faces challenges to his leadership goals, strategic vision, and personal and family safety. Makes extensive use of King's own words and writings and builds a portrait of a young, talented, and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Education; Values and Beliefs; Biography; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Alabama

July 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Narayana Murthy and Compassionate Capitalism

By: William W. George, Shailendra Jit Singh and Andrew N. McLean

Narayana Murthy's roles at Infosys Technologies--as a co-founder, longtime CEO, and nonexecutive chairman and chief mentor--has been marked by explosive growth, demanding management challenges, and widely lauded company leadership. His personal leadership philosophy... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Economic Systems; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Biography; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry; India

Article

Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century

By: Tom Nicholas

This article analyses the proportions of personal to real estate wealth for a group of 295 businessmen profiled in the Dictionary of business biography. It shows that businessmen who owned land on a large scale in the late nineteenth century were a comparatively small... View Details

Keywords: Ownership; Personal Finance; Property; Biography; History; Acquisition; Wealth; Power and Influence; Status and Position; Integration; Transformation; Market Transactions

Read Now

02 Feb 2004
What Do You Think?

Leadership: A Matter of Sustaining or Eliminating Groupthink?

complex task requiring an almost messianic set of beliefs and the ability to communicate them in convincing ways. For a classic example of this, read Robert Caro's prize-winning biography of builder Robert Moses who transformed the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

John Whitehead: A Life in Leadership

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, John C. Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), confronts the collapse of a delicate agreement among business, government, and public interests in rebuilding on the World Trade Center site. Provides information on the leadership... View Details

Keywords: Education; Construction; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Biography; Leadership; Leadership Development; Agreements and Arrangements; Nonprofit Organizations